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Cracking lathe for sale.

Buckeye

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Here is a great lathe for sale on eBay. It's the same model I have and it has been brilliant. The price is well under the normal price for these lathes. Access Denied

Peter
 

21William

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They are good lathes, the only thing to look out for is that it's not three phase (unless you have three phase in your workshop). I read about a guy who bought one in the hope of converting it to single phase and the electrics on it was a nightmare with no easy or inexpensive way to convert it.
 

Buckeye

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I have read excellent revues about this lathe.

Peter.
It has a couple of tweaks to it, a lever operated tailstock and tailstock lever locking instead of a spanner, also looks like it has a microswitch stop as well as a quick release toolpost. The chuck is smaller than mine I wonder if it has been adapted to take a MT chuck, if anyone is thinking of buying it I would ask the question about the chuck as if it is a MT chuck then you can't have any bar going through the bore. For me it has been a great lathe and the precision is amazing, I am so pleased with it.

They are good lathes, the only thing to look out for is that it's not three phase (unless you have three phase in your workshop). I read about a guy who bought one in the hope of converting it to single phase and the electrics on it was a nightmare with no easy or inexpensive way to convert it.

I have never seen or heard of a 3 phase one, but the motor is so accessible it would be easy to swap it out.

Peter
 

21William

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The motor is so accessible it would be easy to swap it out.

Peter

No it won't, Emco used non standard motor shaft sizes. Same with the chuck fitting as well I understand. Not being able to pass stock through the chuck is a serious handicap to what would otherwise be a good lathe.
 

Buckeye

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I know the motor is easy swappable because I helped a friend to do his. The Emco chucks for the compact 8 allow stock to pass through, I think it can take 20mm through the bore or maybe 19.75mm I can't exactly remember. As far as I remember the headstock is a 3MT and the tailstock is definitely a 2MT. I bought a ER32 collet chuck and fixed it to an emco backplate after a touch of machining and it is perfect, it also allow stock through the bore.

Peter
 

21William

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The Emco chucks for the compact 8 allow stock to pass through.
Peter

You were the one who mentioned stock not passing through:

if anyone is thinking of buying it I would ask the question about the chuck as if it is a MT chuck then you can't have any bar going through the bore.
Peter

I wonder where you "friend" bought the motor with the non-standard shaft? :wink:
 

21William

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"Emco motors shaft sizes deviate from standard motor sizes"

Dead Emco Compact 8 Motor

This isn't to say you can't buy a motor that had been modified to fit at a price, just that you can't simply buy a standard motor "off the shelf" for it. Anything can be fixed if you throw enough money at it.

There are other "issues" with the compact 8 that should be considered before buying a used machine:

Emco Compact 8 Lathe
 

Buckeye

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You were the one who mentioned stock not passing through:

That was in relation to the chuck on the one I linked to, that chuck is smaller than the chucks that came with mine and I wondered if it was a MT Chuck as I have not seen smaller chucks for the compact 8, but I suppose it could have been machined to fit.

I wonder where you "friend" bought the motor with the non-standard shaft? :wink:

Ebay, it was a motor for a Compact 8, they still come up for sale, there's a guy in holland has one for sale at the moment.

I have been reading about 3 phase motors and from what I read it looks like it is an upgrade people have done so that they can have VS, but I don't think they were supplied with 3phase motors.

Peter
 

Buckeye

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"Emco motors shaft sizes deviate from standard motor sizes"

Dead Emco Compact 8 Motor

This isn't to say you can't buy a motor that had been modified to fit at a price, just that you can't simply buy a standard motor "off the shelf" for it. Anything can be fixed if you throw enough money at it.

There are other "issues" with the compact 8 that should be considered before buying a used machine:

Emco Compact 8 Lathe

I read it, but I couldn't see any issues, can you elaborate?

I have just re-read it and it appears the issues you mentioned are with copies of the lathe and not the original Emco.

Peter
 

Penpal

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The Emco motors use a different shaft size, the mountings on the original are in the casing. There is the question of cost for rewinding with present day wages making this very expensive.

Peter.
 

21William

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On that site just the quote from "fkacarel": "Emco motors shaft sizes deviates from standard motor sizes".

As I mentioned earlier, a guy on a model engineer forum bought a used three phase machine that he planned to convert to single phase. He couldn't find a standard single phase motor to fit the machine. I've done a search but I can't find the thread now, it was probably on a forum I no longer use.
 
Warning! This thread has not had any replies for over a year. You are welcome to post a reply here, but it might be better to start a new thread (and maybe include a link to this one if you need to).
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